highest market prices for melons two weeks before the Rockyford product was on the market. Another point that must be borne in mind in regard to New Mexico is that the prices of agricultural products are high and likely to so continue for many years to come. This is accounted for largely by the fact that adjacent to every farming community is a growing mining district, and this tends to raise prices. An instance is recalled where a young man planted as an experiment near one of the mining camps an eighth of an acre of onions and cleared in net profits therefrom $125, or at the rate of $1,000 per acre. Grapes range from 2 to 5 cents per pound; apples, 14 to 4 cents; peaches, 3 to 7 cents. Baled alfalfa sells at $8.50 to $15 per ton and ranges from that up to $18.

Appended is given the wolesale prices of produce in season:

Judging from these figures, it would seem that the fruit grower or farmer who could not make money in New Mexico would prove a worthless drone in any country. And yet with water and land and sunshine going to waste the products of the soil here outside of fresh fruits and garden produce are not nearly sufficient to supply the home demand. As before stated, the local demand from the mining camps and from the great cattle and sheep ranches, where the soil is not tilled, serves to keep prices up and these consume more than we at present produce. Throughout most of the agricultural sections of the United States the farmer has great difficulty in finding some article which he can raise at a profit and with which the market is not already greatly overstocked, and after a year of toil is liable to find the general supply of his produce so great and the price consequently so low that he receives little or nothing for his labor and the use of his land. Here the market is ready and ample and only awaits greater energy on the part of those already here and the influx of intelligent and industrious producers to supply it. Nowhere is the reward of

agricultural and horticultural enterprises so great and so certain. But the fact is that every day in the year trains of cars roll into the Territory through the Raton tunnel and across the desert from the Pacific coast laden with the products of other States which we are to consume and for which we are to pay, while all such products could be produced in great abundance and of better quality by practical farmers in New Mexico. This would be a sad fact if caused by any lack of capacity for production in New Mexico; as it is, it is simply suggestive and instructive. Thus we are now importing from neighboring States much poultry and butter, hay, fruit, and even vegetables, all of which should be supplied by home producers. This is an ideal country for truck gardening; everyone engaged in it finds it highly profitable. With our vast stretches of unoccupied alfalfa land we should not buy a pound of hay from Kansas or the San Luis Valley in Colorado; yet 10,000 tons a year must be shipped in for home consumption. Similar statistics might be presented showing the enormous profits that await the establishment of dairy and poultry farms in this Territory; and as for fruit, we ought to export enough to pay for all our imports of every kind, for the finest apples in the world are produced here and as cheaply as any in the world. It has been estimated that a market could be found in Arizona, California, Mexico, and Texas for 500,000 barrels of New Mexico apples annually, and that such fruit produced in northern and central New Mexico would command a better sale than most others because of its freedom from disease, and because also it keeps better and longer than apples raised in other States. These are but examples. The same general facts exist as to other soil products.

THE SUGAR BEET IN NEW MEXICO.

The Department of Agriculture recently issued a special report on the beet-sugar industry in the United States which discusses at length the growth of sugar consumption and the extent of the home market. The conclusion drawn is that however rapidly the production of sugar may be increased it will be necessary for a number of years to come to import large quantities of that commodity. At present we import annually 2,000,000 tons of sugar, and the consumption is increasing more rapidly than the growth in population. It is evident that it will require a large increase in the number of sugar factories to supply the home demand. In the course of time the industry sheltered by a tariff would become so well established that it could resist foreign competition, especially in the irrigated region of the Southwest, where conditions are particularly favorable to the production of sugar beets with a high percentage of saccharine matter. It is doubtful if there

is any part of the world where beet sugar can be produced to greater advantage than in New Mexico. There is, perhaps, no branch of agriculture receiving at the present time more attention from agricultural economists than that of sugar-beet growing. The capitalist, the wholesale merchant, and the consumer is also studying the subject from the individual view-point of each, and those who investigate without prejudice can have no difficulty in concluding that the manufacture of sugar from beets grown in an irrigating country such as New Mexico, where all the conditions are of the most favorable character, has advantages, present and prospective, over almost any other industry. Such business combines manufacturing with farming, thereby utilizing all classes of labor and capital, and when we stop to

reflect that it requires about 90 per cent of all our country's vast exports of wheat and flour to pay for the sugar we import we need not marvel that the subject is of such deep concern to farmer and capitalist and the public in general.

NEW MEXICO'S FACTORY.

In the far-famed Pecos Valley as early as 1891 it was known that sugar beets yielding a very high per cent of saccharine could be grown in New Mexico. In that year a number of samples grown in the Pecos Valley were shipped to the Department of Agriculture in Washington for analysis, and were found to contain 144 per cent of sugar, the richest beets giving 21.85 per cent. Experiments in sugarbeet growing continued in the valley until 1895, with results so satisfactory that in the following year the first sugar factory in New Mexico was built at Eddy, now Carlsbad. This factory has a capacity of 200 tons of beets per day, and is capable of producing 4,000,000 pounds of granulated sugar per season. Such an institution is of lasting benefit to any community; the "campaign," or period in which the factory is in operation each fall, lasts about four months, and then indeed comes the glad harvest season for the sugar-beet grower, for in that time this factory at Carlsbad pays out $25,000 in wages and $100,000 for beets, freight, fuel, etc., to the people of Eddy County. The sugar produced has been pronounced equal to the famous French grades from which are manufactured the best confections of Paris.

An average of 14 tons to the acre is considered a fair crop in the Pecos Valley. The factory at Carlsbad pays $4.75 per ton for beets, delivered. The freight charges are 50 cents per ton from any station on the Pecos Valley Railway. As most of the beets are delivered by rail, the farmer therefore realizes at least $4.25 per ton f. o. b. cars at his nearest station.

This factory is so arranged that its capacity may be easily doubled at comparatively small expense. Indeed, this would have been an accomplished fact at this time had it not been for a scarcity of sugarbeet farmers. A plan is now on foot to locate in Eddy County a large colony of German farmers, for the purpose of engaging them chiefly in sugar-beet growing. Notwithstanding the innumerable advantages of soil, climate, irrigation facilities, and a ready home market for the raw product, the factory has had some difficulty for the past two years in securing beets enough for the usual "campaign,” or run of one hundred days. It seems that the American farmers who have cast their lot in this rich valley are so engrossed in the raising of high-bred cattle and sheep, the planting of great alfalfa fields, or in fruit growing or truck gardening, that they have not the patient, plodding disposition to engage in beet raising, however remunerative it may prove. For this reason the Pecos Irrigation Company proposes to plant near Carlsbad a colony of foreigners, whose training and general characteristics better adapt them to this special branch of agriculture. In speaking of the business, Manager Goetz, of the Carlsbad Sugar Works, says:

The success in raising sugar beets is made in localities where the average acreage per farmer is not over 5. In Lehi, Utah, where the most continuously successful crops have been raised in the United States. the average is only 4. As an example, you can readily understand that 100 farmers cultivating 5 acres each will raise more tons than 5 farmers cultivating 100 acres each. The sugar beet

is rather a garden crop, and requires considerable care to bring about the best results, and a man having only 5 acres is able to give the crop all the attention required, while a man cultivating 100 acres is bound to neglect the proper cultivation and care of it, at least on a large portion of the field. The beet crop repays handsomely the close, careful, and intelligent work put upon it. It is not uncommon to obtain a yield of 20 tons to the acre, although an average of 14 tons is considered exceedingly good.

The advantages of the soil of New Mexico for the growing of the sugar beet on a profitable scale surpass many localities in the United States, and under proper conditions-namely, a sufficient number of good farmers who will not undertake too large an acreage and work wisely-I doubt very much if New Mexico has a superior anywhere, especially where irrigation can be applied. The number of days of clear weather, with good soil and an abundance of irrigating water, together with proper attention, should give a good yield every year, and our climatic conditions will give a richer beet than in the districts located outside of the arid regions, because it is well known that the sugar in the beet does not come from the soil, but from the clear atmosphere, and as we have more bright, sunny days here than, I believe, in any other sugar-beet district, our beets contain and will continue to contain a higher percentage of saccharine matter. Again, the dry fall and winter, together with the absence of hard frosts, allow the beets to remain in the ground until needed by the factory, thus doing away with the expense of siloing, necessary in the Northern States.

Lands in New Mexico are cheaper than in any other sugar-beet district, ranging from $15 to $30 per acre, which should also be an inducement to settlers to locate here.

Again, the season for planting is longer than elsewhere, extending from April 1 to July 1. This is an advantage in case of a mishap to the early planting, as it gives sufficient time for replanting in order to raise a good tonnage before the factory is ready for the beets. Our harvest commences in November. It continues, or would continue with a full crop, until March 1, keeping the farmer busy during the months in which with other crops he is idle, and when all other crops are harvested and disposed of.

IN OTHER DISTRICTS.

During the past three years, from beet seed furnished by the Agricultural Department in Washington, under the direction of the College of Agriculture at Las Cruces, the better class of farmers in the Territory have been raising sugar beets with uniform success. The fact is clearly demonstrated that on all the valley lands in New Mexico, with irrigation, may be grown the finest crops of sugar beets of the most satisfactory quality for the manufacture of sugar.

It appears that beets of large size, of small sugar content, may be grown almost anywhere with the ordinary attention given to a crop of corn or potatoes; but special conditions of soil and climate seem to be necessary to produce a crop of beets rich enough in sugar to be profitable for purposes of manufacture of sugar. In determining the presence or absence of these conditions, our Territory has occasion for congratulation in the zeal and good work of the College of Agriculture at Las Cruces.

Throughout the Rio Grande Valley, from El Paso to the Colorado line, results appear to be uniformly satisfactory. In the central portion of the Territory, in the high valley region about Santa Fe, the conditions of soil and climate appear to be specially suited to this crop. Here the uniform temperature and almost perpetual sunshine during the growing season seem to develop a larger percentage of sugar in the beet than in almost any other section of the United States in which tests have been made. It appears from tests made at the experimental station last year that Santa Fe grown beets weighing over 10 pounds tested over 12 per cent sugar content, and smaller beets of less than 20 ounces contained more than 20 per cent of sugar.

The yield per acre with irrigation appears to be merely a matter of

care and skill in cultivation and in handling the crop under our conditions of climate. The tendency in over-irrigation is to produce a large beet of small sugar content. On the other hand, on the prevailing sandy clay soil about Santa Fe, from 10 to 12 tons of small beets of large sugar content may be grown with even less water for irrigation than is usually given an average crop of corn. For sugar making the beet most desired should weigh less than 20 ounces and contain more than 15 per cent of sugar; and for the raising of this beet New Mexico has the necessary soil, sunshine, water, and cheap labor to successfully grow in almost any quantity desired. It is not alone in the production of sugar beets of superior quality that New Mexico invites the attention of the sugar-making interest in the country; her railroad facilities for delivering beets at a common point centrally located for the manufacture of sugar in the Territory are all that can be desired. Both at Santa Fe and at Albuquerque may be located sugar factories convenient to the ample supply of good water, cheap fuel, the best of limestone in unlimited supply for factory use, and reliable local labor. The Rio Grande Valley, and especially in the neighborhood of Santa Fe, has been the home of a native population for many generations accustomed to small truck farming and gardening with irrigation, and already skilled in the light labor required for the cultivation of the sugar beet.

It is rare indeed that all or so many of the conditions for successful beet-sugar production may be found in the same locality.

Nature has indeed been generous in endowing New Mexico in this particular interest. Along the valley of the Mora, also under the Springer canal system in Colfax County and in the San Juan Valley, are large areas in which the growing of sugar beets has been given exhaustive, practical tests, resulting in the harvesting of 12 to 15 tons of small beets per acre which carry a saccharine content of 14 to 18 per cent per ton.

OPENING FOR YOUNG MEN.

The sugar-beet industry, once firmly established in New Mexico, will offer many good openings for the young men of the Territory. With a small capital of $500 to $1,000 to begin with, a young man who goes into the business with the determination to win can soon be independent. Every business, profession, and trade is overcrowded, and it takes more than the average ability and large amount of capital to succeed nowadays in those lines in an honest way. "But," says one, "I want to make my son an educated man, and farm life affords no reward for an educated man." Here is the greatest mistake that the world has made and is making in the scheme of education. No greater wrong can be perpetrated upon the youth than to lead him to feel that a college education unfits him for work-for manual labor— and that he must, to reap his full reward, go into some genteel office work, where his hands and clothes are to be kept stainless. This idea has caused thousands and hundreds of thousands of young men to fail in life. Educated brains and trained, willing hands make an invincible combination; but the most helpless, pitiable object on earth is a college-educated young man who lacks business training and healthy energy to lead him into active fields.

The sugar-beet industry or other branches of farming in the arid regions present an ideal beginning for the young man who seeks a profitable, riskless, and permanent occupation.

A college-educated man, if he is willing to use his muscles as well